Cannabis sales in Canada: $5.5 billion by 2024-2025, but growth slowing down

Sales of cannabis for adult use in Canada reached 5.5 billion Canadian dollars during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, representing a a 6.1% increase in Q3 compared to the previous year, according to new data from Statistics Canada, although the pace of growth continued to slow for the third consecutive year.

This single-digit increase, which represents a rise of approximately 300 million Canadian dollars compared to the previous year, marks another consecutive year of slowing growth following an 11.6% increase in Q1-Q3 of 2023/24 and a 15.8 year-over-year in 2022/23.

The average retail price of cannabis also fell by 1.1 % between March 2024 and March 2025, as market saturation and price pressure continued to intensify competition among licensed producers.

On a per-capita basis, Canadians of legal purchasing age spent an average of 167 Canadian dollars on recreational cannabis over the course of the year, but this figure varied significantly by region.

The Yukon had the highest per capita spending, at 384 Canadian dollars, while Quebec remained the lowest, at 105 Canadian dollars—a difference largely attributable to provincial restrictions on product formats, including edible products, e-cigarettes, and e-liquids.

Dried cannabis flowers remained the dominant product category, accounting for 59.7 % of total sales, compared with 61.4 % the previous year. Sales of dried flowers, which include pre-rolled joints, however, increased by 3 % year-over-year to reach 3.3 billion Canadian dollars

At the same time, other formats appeared to be closing the gap. The «inhalable cannabis extracts» category, which includes vaporizer pens, the hashish, wax and the rosin, increased by 12.8% year-over-year to reach 1.7 billion Canadian dollars and now accounts for 31.1% of total sales, compared with approximately 29% in 2023/24.

This is the main category that has experienced the fastest growth in the market. Ingested cannabis extracts (oils, capsules, and sprays) grew by 7 % to reach 170.4 million Canadian dollars, while cannabis-infused beverages grew by nearly 9 % to reach 91.6 million Canadian dollars. The edible cannabis products defied the general growth trend, falling by 2.2 % to 219 million Canadian dollars, with their market share declining from 4.3 % to 4 %.

The federal and provincial governments collected a total of 2.5 billion Canadian dollars from recreational cannabis in 2024–25, an increase of 11.5 TP3T from the previous year and the equivalent of 0.45 Canadian dollars for every Canadian dollar spent by consumers. By comparison, this figure amounts to 0.51 Canadian dollars for every Canadian dollar spent on alcohol.

The Total Alcohol Sales in Canada reached 25.8 billion Canadian dollars in 2024/25, generating 13.1 billion Canadian dollars in government revenue, but alcohol sales fell by 4.2% year-over-year during the same period—the sharpest annual decline since Statistics Canada began tracking this series in 2004. On a per-capita basis, Canadians consumed an average of 8.0 standard drinks per week, down from 8.7 the previous year. Cannabis, on the other hand, continued to grow.

Since the legalization in October 2018, Canada collected more than 5.4 billion Canadian dollars in federal excise taxes on cannabis, of which 4.2 billion were redistributed to the provinces and territories.

More recent data indicate that this This momentum continues into 2025. According to data released by Statistics Canada, cannabis retail sales in December 2025 reached 503.7 million Canadian dollars, a new monthly record and a 5.3 % increase from November. Sales for the entire 2025 calendar year totaled 5.62 billion Canadian dollars, a 4.1 % increase from the 5.39 billion Canadian dollars recorded in 2024.

Provincial results in December were mixed. British Columbia posted year-over-year growth of 22.1% quarter-over-quarter, while Quebec grew by 10.1% quarter-over-quarter. Ontario and Alberta, the the two largest markets In terms of population, both showed slight year-over-year declines of 4 % and 1 %, respectively, although both recorded month-over-month increases.